This volume covers the Prehistory of Ukraine from the Lower Palaeolithic through to the end of the Neolithic periods. This is the first comprehensive synthesis of Ukrainian Prehistory from earliest times through until the Neolithic Period undertaken by researchers who are currently investigating the Prehistory of Ukraine. At present there are no other English language books on this subject that provide a current synthesis for these periods. The chapters in this volume provide up-to-date overviews of all aspects of prehistoric culture development in Ukraine and present details of the key sites and finds for the periods studied. The book includes the most recent research from all areas of prehistory up to the Neolithic period, and, in addition, areas such as recent radiocarbon dating and its implications for culture chronology are considered; as is a consideration of aDNA and the new insights into culture history this area of research affords; alongside recent macrofossil studies of plant use, and anthropological and stable isotope studies of diet, which all combine to allow greater insights into the nature of human subsistence and cultural developments across the Palaeolithic to Neolithic periods in Ukraine. It is anticipated that this book will be an invaluable resource for students of prehistory throughout Europe in providing an English-language text that is written by researchers who are active in their respective fields and who possess an intimate knowledge of Ukrainian prehistory.
A guide to ancient accomplishments and inventions unearths the origins of modern creations, including computers in ancient Greece, plastic surgery in India in the first century B.C., and a postal service in medieval Baghdad
An outspoken opponent of pro-Russian, authoritarian, and far-right streams in contemporary Czech society, Martin C. Putna received a great deal of media attention when he ironically dedicated the Czech edition of Russ–Ukraine–Russia to Miloš Zeman—the pro-Russian president of the Czech Republic. This sense of irony, combined with an extraordinary breadth of scholarly knowledge, infuses Putna’s book. Examining key points in Russian cultural and spiritual history, Russ–Ukraine–Russia is essential reading for those wishing to understand the current state of Russia and Ukraine—the so-called heir to an “alternative Russia.” Putna uses literary and artistic works to offer a rich analysis of Russia as a cultural and religious phenomenon: tracing its development from the arrival of the Greeks in prehistoric Crimea to its invasion by “little green men” in 2014; explaining the cultural importance in Russ of the Vikings as well as Pussy Riot; exploring central Russian figures from St. Vladimir the Great to Vladimir Putin. Unique in its postcolonial perspective, this is not merely a history of Russia or of Russian religion. This book presents Russia as a complex mesh of national, religious, and cultural (especially countercultural) traditions—with strong German, Mongol, Jewish, Catholic, Polish, and Lithuanian influences—a force responsible for creating what we identify as Eastern Europe.
This book offers insight into the relationship between prehistoric and protohistoric human populations and the world around them. It reconstructs key aspects of the palaeoenvironment – from large-scale drivers of environmental conditions, such as climate, to more regional variables such as vegetation cover and faunal communities. The volume underscores how computational archaeology is leading the way in the study of past human-environment interactions across spatial and chronological scales. With the increased availability of high-resolution climate models, agent-based modelling, palaeoecological proxies and the mature use of Geographic Information System in ecological modelling, archaeologists working in interdisciplinary settings are well-positioned to explore the intersection of human systems and environmental affordances and constraints. These methodological advancements provide a better understanding of the role humans played in past ecosystems – both in terms of their impact upon the environment and, in return, the impact of environmental conditions on human systems. They may also allow us to infer past ecological knowledge and land-use patterns that are historically contingent, rather than environmentally determined. This volume gathers contributions that combine reconstructions of past environments and archeological data with a view to exploring their complex interactions at different scales and invites scholars from varying disciplines and backgrounds to present and compare different modelling approaches.
With Their Backs to the Mountains is the history of a stateless people, the Carpatho-Rusyns, and their historic homeland, Carpathian Rus?, located in the heart of central Europe. ÿA little over 100,000 Carpatho-Rusyns are registered in official censuses but their number could be as high as 1,000,000, the greater part living in Ukraine and Slovakia. The majority of the diaspora?nearly 600,000?lives in the US. At present, when it is fashionable to speak of nationalities as ?imagined communities? created by intellectuals or elites who may or may not live in the historic homeland, Carpatho-Rusyns provide an ideal example of a people made?or some would say still being made?before our very eyes. The book traces the evolution of Carpathian Rus? from earliest prehistoric times to the present, and the complex manner in which a distinct Carpatho-Rusyn people, since the mid-nineteenth century, came into being, disappeared, and then re-appeared in the wake of the revolutions of 1989 and the collapse of Communist rule in central and eastern Europe. To help guide the reader further there are 39 text inserts, 34 detailed maps, plus an annotated discussion of relevant books, chapters, and journal articles. ÿ
COLOUR EDITION What was Aratta? Why is this most ancient civilisation important to us today? The Arattan civilisation has come to signify the creation of an assembly of tribes and nations which ultimately spread across the entire span of Eurasia. Aratta itself became an epithet for "abundance" and "glory". Aratta created script, texts, writing, laws and precepts, contracts, trade, judicial systems, agriculture, spirited arts & crafts - within a peaceful, matriarchal civilisation many millennia before the founding of Sumer around 3200 BCE which had itself sprung, seemingly 'ready-formed', into archaeological consciousness according to Sumerian scholars. So why are Western historians of ancient civilisations predominantly focused on studying Rome, Greece and Egypt, almost to the exclusion of fabulous Mesopotamian Sumer and its progenitor, this Aratta? Its rich petroglyphic archives deposited by Stone Age communities of mammoth-hunters in Ukraine can no longer be ignored, accordingly, this book sets out to trace the development of this civilisation from its origin on the territory of Ukraine, the northern Black Sea Land of Aratta. From 20,000 BCE, pre-state Aratta progressed from being a well-organised society to one whose subsequent wisdom-keepers would, by 12,000 BCE, have inscribed their chronicles in sanctuary grottoes at 'Kamyana Mohyla' (southern Ukraine). In this "Stone Library", which remains virtually unknown in the Western world, lies a written agreement from c. 6,200 BCE, an appeal for mutual aid between missionaries from Çatal Höyük (Anatolia) which singularly justifies recognition of Aratta as the world's first known state and founder of the "Indo-European" community of tribes and languages. In this image-rich book, Dr. Shilov critically examines the extent to which Aratta's tendrils advanced into Asia Minor, India, Mesopotamia, Egypt and indeed, across Europe covering the most extensive timescale imaginable. This is far more than 'mere history', it is an analysis of how the apotheosis of Aratta ("Trypillian archaeological culture") came to be eclipsed by the rise of its off-shoot, the slave-holding civilisation of Sumer. This progressive trend was paralleled by a movement away from the ancient intuitive perception of their world to one which was based upon logical analysis. The author stresses the importance of understanding the balance between the material form and field essence components of 'physical space' and their interpretation by the conscious and subconscious mind. It was this fundamental distinction which drew Aratta's Brahman priests to dissociate "life-and-death" from "existence and non-existence". Dr. Shilov's lifetime experience of excavating hundreds of burial kurhans and graves across the steppes of Ukraine made it possible to "decipher" the mythological rituals associated with those mounds which closely resemble those rituals in the Indo-Aryan Rigveda, yet arose long before they appeared in India, corroborating the linguistic conception that the Aryans and their beliefs originated in the lower Dnipro area of Ukraine. Drawing upon sources rarely encountered by Western researchers Dr. Shilov describes the migrations of ancient Eurasian tribes; the spread of Vedic philosophy into India; the origins of Pelasgian and Greek legends; the rise of Cimmerian, Scythian, Slavic and western European nations; the emergence of Kyivan Rus and through Cossack traditions, an appreciation of the sustained preservation of the core tenets of Arattan culture, still maintained in the very heart of modern Ukraine. At a time when modern civilisations often exhibit uncivilised behaviour, an understanding of Aratta's precepts of peaceful, harmonious society is surely worthy of our attention. "Ancient History of Aratta-Ukraine" is sincerely recommended.
Preserving the Dnipro River is based on a major international research project directed by Ukrainian and Canadian scientists begun in 1994 and completed in 2001. It describes the importance of the Dnipro from an historical perspective, details the steps taken by these international scientists to overcome the river's environmental degradation, and outlines a strategy to rehabilitate and preserve the Dnipro's unique biodiversity. This volume also explores a unique approach to sustainable management that blends together both natural and spiritual concerns and draws together philosophical concepts from numerous intellectual traditions, bridging East and West, North and South.
